I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past! in A New Beginning

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We did. We went to Detroit to spend the holiday with Carrie and family…making the trip possible for me by dividing it up into a two-way trip both coming and going. I hope that by next time, I’ll be able to ride the whole eleven hours at one stretch, but it really was very nice, driving just five or six hours (beginning in the afternoon rather than early morning) and then stopping at a hotel for the night. :o) !!

My favorite part of the trip was playing board games with my kids and grandkids. :o) !! One of the greatest blessings in my life is how great Carrie and Joey get along now. I love knowing that after I go to bed, they stay up talking and laughing ‘til the wee hours. When we’re at home, she sometimes phones him late at night so they can talk, and they are planning on him flying out there sometime this year, on his own, to attend a concert with her. He’s never been to one!

Jake and his always-there girlfriend of nearly two years, Dominique, are both very nice “kids” (both nineteen) and fun to spend time with too. Max, now eight, is his usual wild and crazy-acting little self much of the time. I am very good at positioning myself so that others get to bear the brunt of this when he’s really wound up, but when he in a somewhat calmer mode, I enjoy the time he and I spend together. I very much see the difference between Max, who really does have ADHD, and my kids, who were simply extremely active, silly, and gabby as kids. Unfortunately, his medicine makes him way more quiet and in-a-daze-ish than I like seeing kids, and when he doesn’t take it he’s extremely hard to manage, UNLESS he is kept very busy. Going on long walks or to the beach or some other active and fun outdoor thing is perfect for him....he can be NOT on any medication but can run off all his energy in a better way than the bouncing-off-the-walls thing he tends to do at home.

We were only there for half the day on Christmas Eve, Christmas and Friday, and we headed home on Saturday afternoon. Of course everyone had fun on Christmas! Max had asked Santa for a puppy and his own laptop computer. Carrie and Al are quite well-off and quite “techy,” so getting him his own laptop was easy to do. NO WAY were they going to get a puppy! They have a full-grown Alaskan Malamute whose reaction to small animals is to eat them if she can!

Joe, Joey and I all got lovely new furry bathrobes, jammy pants and slippers. I guess that tells you who lives in a c…c…COLD house!! ;o) !!

Friday we went to the Detroit Institute of the Arts, and then walked several blocks through Detroit’s Greektown, after dark so everything was all lit up and so festive!!!!, to a restaurant Al had chosen to take us to, It was very yummsy. :o) !!

Saturday afternoon we headed home, and drove so far that we only had about four more hours to go on Sunday! Of course it was great to get home and most of all, to get Guinness from the boarding kennel and bring him home! He did well there this time…no remnants of anxiety at all. They told Joey he was very well-behaved and one of the handsomest chocolate labs they’ve seen. But of course! We knew those things already! :o) !!

I don’t want to say very much too soon, but my physical issues I’ve been having since September seem to be mostly gone now???? I am truly thankful!!!!!

Now for me to go back to bed for some more shut-eye. Here’s wishing you a happy day and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR, my friends!

hugs and blessings,
Nicky